Marc Newson, famous designer and close friend of Apple design guru Jony Ive, just gave his first solo interview since joining Apple last year. In the interview with the London Evening Standard, Newson talks Apple Watch, thought to be one of the first products he had involvement with since joining the company, as well as the future of the company from fashion to cars.

When asked about Apple Watch, and specifically the criticism from the fashion industry, Newson responded:

‘There are a lot of Louis Vuitton bags out there. I think at one point every 1.5 Japanese woman had a Louis Vuitton bag. But it still qualifies as a luxury object. It’s about the quality and integrity of the product… ‘I’ve got some classic mechanical timepieces. I don’t see how they and the Apple Watch cannibalise one another or compete.’

And on the technology becoming outdated, unlike traditional fashion items:

The way I see it, it’s evolution, progress,’ Newson recovers. ‘And we are doing wonderful things. In one of the versions of the watch, the box it comes in acts as a charging device that you can use for other models. So it becomes a useful object and not something that will just sit in the top drawer of your cupboard for the rest of eternity.’

And lastly, Newson hinted at the future by highlighting the benefits of both continued innovation for wearables and fashion items, as well as the potential in the auto industry following reports of Apple’s ambitions to build a vehicle.

‘We will start to see more technology embedded in garments — magic woven in. There are some incredible things that are going to happen’…. Why not accelerate ahead of the pack with an iCar? Newson does little to damp down the speculation: ‘There is certainly vast opportunity in that area to be more intelligent.’

Newson noted that his role at Apple is taking up around 60 percent of his time. So it’s not a full-time gig, but he adds that he hopes to be with the company “indefinitely”. It’s unclear if Newson’s role will change at all following Jony Ive’s new promotionthat will see the exec hand over control of his current departments to others as he switches focus and works on retail and other tasks.